in the moment.......

When it comes my turn.....
Mary my kindred, Candi dressed as Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys,
Donna the songbird, me in red of course and Hal our fearless leader

Songs oxygenate the soul. They can lift the spirit, move the spirit, shake the spirit up. They can make you swoon with empathic emotions or charge you into action. Songs connect, distract, effect anyone who is listening.......anyone who is singing along, especially from their heart.

Especially on a snowy day in April!!!! Let me repeat that...........a SNOWY DAY IN APRIL!

Songs generate feelings and allow us to share our community together. They can radiate sun even in a dull old boardroom.

Today, I participated in an Easter lunch and a celebration of my dear friend Linda's 60th birthday, and I felt all of that. Impromptu-like as is often the case, we sang a song to Linda.........the one I posted just the other day.........When it Comes My Turn It was an appropriate song in many ways ........... one that everyone could join in on.........one that captured the birthday moment with a few laughs. Without a real rehearsal, 5 of us, led by the intrepid Hal who is always game to play his guitar to lead us into a moment of escape from our daily routine did our best to sing in harmony, and to do a Maritime jig (our part) during the verses (Hal's part)

As we sang, I looked over at Linda and saw her familiar tears. She cries openly, like I do. In fact, tears were the first thing we realized we had in common when we first met years ago to "case conference" a group of individuals who had just completed a life skills course I had just facilitated. As I was telling her a story about a young woman who had blossomed before my eyes in just a short 4 week time span, Linda started blubbering which in turn started me up.

Ever since that fateful moment, we have had the ability to drop each other into a puddle of tears just by starting a story. We have worked closely together for many years now and have shared many life stories together. Our tears also make us laugh................at our own tender spots.

I loved it today when we had hit her tender spot. She was glowing. Her tears filled up her eyes.

"Kid!" (she often calls me kid) "How do you do this to me every time?" I just laughed and gave her a birthday hug.

After we finished the song, I thought we would fall into small groups to chat and catch up. But, before I knew it, Hal announced that he had another song he wanted to sing to another woman in the room. My breath caught me in the intake, because I knew he was talking about me. A while back, I had bumped into him in the front foyer one day and asked him if he had ever heard the song "Changes" by Phil Oches........ He hadn't heard of it before, but knew the songwriter. By the end of that day, Hal had grabbed the music and lyrics off the internet to learn it. In the brief moment whenever our paths crossed, he would give me an update on his progress with the song and that one day he would come over to my office to sing it to me.

Today, in front of a boardroom full of people, Hal kept his promise. He seranaded me with a song that has always been closely kept in my heart........one I hadn't heard sung or played in over 20 years. My tears flowed with abandon as I sat beside Linda to listen and to be completely in the moment of the blessing I had been given by one beautiful man.

It has been a tough week and I have struggled to find my way, to find my energy again. Hal's gift of song and the time I spent surrounded by the energy of the colleagues I have missed dearly since I moved into another office resurged me like nothing else ever could've. It also taught me that lesson again.............you know the one??

"It only takes a spark to keep the fire burning."

My spark is lit.........I feel blessed.

Someone seranaded me today.............how often do you get to say that?

Hal, my seranader.
A beautiful man who offered me a moment of spiritual grace when I needed it.
And, he didn't even know I needed it. :)